Funnies Need Serious Work

Hunched over his drawing board, his eyes running over the script, Savio Mascrenhas scribbles some lines even as a colleague shuffles with pa...

Hunched over his drawing board, his eyes running over the script, Savio Mascrenhas scribbles some lines even as a colleague shuffles with paper and brush at the next table. Soon the lines come together to form Janoo, the 8216;8216;good witch8217;8217; of Janoo and Wooly Woo, the new characters from Tinkle Comics. 8216;8216;It8217;s a mix of fantasy, fiction and facts,8217;8217; says Mascrenhas, looking up from the art works at his fifth floor India Book House office, Mahalaxmi.

Mascrenhas sketches characters children instantly identify with. 8216;8216;Creating comic strips is like dressing naked bodies. You have to be specific, accurate and funny to a fault,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;You are attempting to hold the attention of children 8212; you can8217;t afford to bore them.8217;8217;

Ever since this commerce graduate and onetime copywriter with an ad agency took to cartooning a decade or so ago, 32-year-old Mascrenhas has created many characters, like Shikari Shambu. 8216;8216;Shambu, the hunter, never kills animals, is environment-friendly and gets funnier as the story progresses. If he is hunting in African jungles, I refer to encyclopaedia and books to see how the jungles in Africa look. I visualise, think and then sketch,8217;8217; he says.

Savio Mascrenhas
Cartoonist

Like writing, cartooning demands utmost care. Once he almost landed himself in trouble, after he sketched a Persian Muslim characters in traditional robes and embellished him with earrings. 8216;8216;My editor, Mr Anant Pai, called me in and said that Muslim men don8217;t wear earrings and some readers may get offended. I withdrew this cartoon,8217;8217; he remembers. 8216;8216;We have to take history, context and situation into account.8217;8217; Growing up on Ram Waeerkar8217;s mythological characters in Amar Chitra Katha Series, Mascrenhas gets inspired by 8216;8216;anything that8217;s humourous.8217;8217; 8216;8216;Ideas are scattered all over. You just need to pick them up,8217;8217; he says.

8216;8216;Some wannabe cartoonists mistakenly believe art schools can teach them cartooning. They can only teach them styles, nothing beyond that,8217;8217; claims the cartoonist who never attended an art school. 8216;8216;I have learned it through practice.8217;8217;

Mascrenhas has won over many hearts like this eight-year-old from Nagaland who writes in regularly, always raving about his works. Or the 10-year-old boy from Mumbai who wanted tips on cartooning and whom Mascrenhas invited to his office. He is also writing a book on puzzles and colouring because 8216;8216;I want to tell children how to pick it up early and fast.8217;8217; Are our talented young ones listening?